Greybull Capital

Greybull Capital LLP is an investment company that specialises in medium to long term investments in private companies. It was incorporated as a limited liability partnership in April 2010.

Company structure

Greybull Capital's four members are Nathaniel Jerome Meyohas, Marc Meyohas, Richard Cal Perlhagen and Greybull Corporate Partner Ltd;^[3] Greybull Corporate Partner Ltd, is owned by Jerome Nathaniel and Marc Meyohas with equal shares, it was formed on July 2012.^[4]

Greybull Capital say they "make long term investments in private companies" with a "broad portfolio spanning investments in the energy, technology, retail, industrial and manufacturing sectors in Europe and the United States".^[5]

Greybull Capital is run by brothers Marc and Nathaniel Meyohas and longstanding family friend Richard Perlhagen. "We are a family-owned, family-run business with interests everywhere" Marc Meyohas said in a Sunday Times interview March 2012. Greybull was set up to invest the wealth of the two families, whose ties go back forty years. Marc and Nathaniel Meyohas's father is a French corporate lawyer. Perlhagen’s father owned a Swedish pharmaceutical operation which was sold for over ten million pounds.^[6] Marc Meyohas said in a phone interview May 2016 “It’s purely family money; we don’t manage institutional capital. As a result you can move quickly.”^[7]

Buy-outs, backing and negotiations

New Era, petroleum, 2010

Greybull backed New Era Petroleum Inc, since 2010 with both working capital to develop its activities and capital to acquire and re-develop oil fields in the US.^[8]

New Era of Wyoming, USA owns The Greybull Field oil well in Greybull, Wyoming.^[9]

Plessey, semiconductors, 2010

Greybull supported management’s plans to restructure and re-develop Plessey Semiconductors Ltd, of Plymouth, Devon, since 2010 and has financed add-on acquisitions.^[8]

Comet, electrical retailer, 2011

Greybull led the backers of OpCapita's buyout of Comet Group, November 2011,^[10] a 236-store business, employing 7,000 for £2; plus a £50m dowry paid by the past owner.^[11] Comet of Hull, UK, went into administration November 2012.^[12] Comet closes its last stores December 2012.^[13] Comet's administrators, Deloitte, said the collapse would cost the UK government £23m in redundancy payments and £26.4m in tax owed;^[14] Deloitte's figures showed OpCapita recouped almost £120m from the insolvency.^[15] A tribunal ruled, June 2014, that Comet did not follow redundancy rules, so an additional £26m must be paid by the UK Government, on top of the statutory redundancy it previously paid.^[16] Comet's collapse dubbed the biggest raid in British corporate history, November 2014. A Government statement said “The Secretary of State has concerns about the financial burden placed on the taxpayer caused by the collapse of companies such as Comet and is considering the options available”.^[16]

Game Group, game retailer, 2012

Greybull backed OpCapita's buyout of Game Group, a computer games retailer;^[17] Game was in liquidation; The administrators disposed of 277 shops, with 2,104 redundancies and sold 333 to OpCapital, safeguarding nearly 3,200 employees.^[18] By May 2013 Game's accounts showed it owed its OpCapita-led parent company, Capitex Holdings, £103m, paying 7½% above Barclays base rate. The turn-around of Game was reported positive, with plans to open 18 more shops.^[19] Paul Singer billionaire investor behind US hedge fund Elliott Management Corp, also backed OpCapita's buyouts of both Game and Comet;:^[17] Eliott sold 13% of Game shares for £59m, reducing its stake to 48.3% September 2014 ^[15]

Rileys, sports bars, 2012

Greybull acquired Rileys, a UK sports bars and snooker hall group, through a pre-pack administration in 2012. It was reported, Pre-packs can be controversial as they allow the new owner to shed a company's previous debts .^[20] Greybull shed about half of Rileys sites.^[21] Greybull tried to sell the company in summer 2014 but no buyer was forthcoming and Rileys was placed in administration for a second time September 15, 2014.^[22] In 2016 there were 30 Rileys Sports Bars in the UK, owned by Rileys Sports Bars (2014) Ltd.^[23]

Metalrax, baking equipment, 2013

Marc and Nathaniel Meyohas of Greybull Capital, the directors of Bowman Birmingham, which acquired Metalrax out of administration. Almost 400 jobs were secured; April 2013.^[24] KPMG, an auditing service, reported into the pre-packaged insolvency, showed: Greybull paid more than £8m. The deal left the group pension deficit of £16.9m as an unsecured creditor, with chances of repayment now in the hands of the Pension Protection Fund. A solvent offer was on the table before Metalrax's collapse, Grove Industries were report to be disappointed not to conclude a transaction in the time available.^[25]

Arc, engineering, 2013

Greybull fully financed Arc Specialist Engineering Ltd, a conglomerate of businesses in the steel industry and became its majority shareholder^[8] The business born in 2013 from the collapse of Metalrax Group was returning to profits.^[25]

Constar UK, plastic bottles maker, 2014

Greybull Capital purchased the UK arm of Constar International Holdings for £4.3m, through Sherburn Acquisitions, a vehicle set up to handle the transaction; February 2014.^[26][27] Rescue deal saves 140 Yorkshire jobs.^[28]

Murco, fuel stations & refinery, 2014 (negotiations only)

Greybull reported to be in "an advanced stage" in negotiations for between Murco Petroleum at Milford Haven; Reuters reported "The $500m deal could be signed in mid-April"; March 2014.^[29]

Monarch, airline, 2014

Greybull purchased 90% of Monarch Holdings Ltd, a UK airline, trading as Monarch, October 25, 2014 in return for £50m capital commitment the remaining 10% passed to Monarch's pension scheme : Greybull Capital's partner Marc Meyohas said: "We are delighted to acquire Monarch and invest our capital into a very strong brand with great potential" : Greybull's investment secured £125m of capital and liquidity facilities; Restructuring involved reducing its aircraft from 42 to 34, 700 redundancies & wage reductions.^[8] The Financial Times reported; Since Greybull bought Monarch, the travel airline has been transformed. Monarch delivering its 1st profit in three years in 2015.^[30] Greybull employed Deutsche Bank in April 2016 to 'explore strategic options for Monarch Airlines', including growth opportunities in Europe and selling it.^[31] Monarch Airlines seeking in June 2016 to secure £35m either from Greybull or a 3rd party. ^[32] Amid rumors of imminent bankruptcy in September 2016 Monarch's ATOL aviation insurance was extended for 2 weeks by fresh investment, ^[33] and by then, £165m of Greybull investment renewed Monarch's annual licence.^[34]

M Local convenience stores, from Morrisons, 2015

Morrisons sold M local to a team led by retail entrepreneur Mike Greene, backed by Greybull Capital, for £25m, incurring a loss of about £30m. Under Greybull’s ownership, 140 stores to be rebranded ‘My Local’, safeguarding jobs of the 2,300 staff. M local's operating loss for 2014 was £36m.^[35]

Greybull put My Local into administration June 2016, 9 months after buying it.^[36] Ninety stores closed, more than 1,200 shop workers laid off, some without redundancy pay; The remaining 35 stores reportedly sold.^[37] Morrisons offered to rehire former employees who lost their jobs. Part of the sale to Greybull involved Morrisons guaranteeing some store rents if the business collapsed. Morrisons was left with a potential liability of about £20m.^[38]

TATA Steel Europe long products division, from Tata, 2016

Greybull announced 11 April it would buy Long Products Europe from Tata Steel Europe (TATA Group).:^[39] The assets include Scunthorpe steelworks, two mills in Teesside and a rail mill at Hayange, France.^[40] Tata Steel had been trying to sell its struggling UK steel business since 2014.^[40] Tata was in exclusive talks with Greybull, since December 2015, when they signed a Letter of Intent to sell Long Products Europe. The UK government was under pressure to help a sale process after Tata announced in March 2016 it would withdraw from the UK market. In April Tata announced Greybull would buy Tata's Long Products Europe business for £1. Greybull may bring £400M of investments into the company. A future is offered for its 4,400 UK employees.^[40] Greybull will trade under the name "British Steel Limited",^[41] formerly used under the British Steel Corporation (BSC) group.

References